Unit Title: Reconstruction Author: Sarah Whelan Grade Level ...

Unit Title: Reconstruction

Author: Sarah Whelan Grade Level: Middle School

School: George Washington Middle Time Estimated: 9-10 days

(75-minute periods)

Overview:This is a unit of study about Reconstruction, the time period from 1865-1877 when the United States wasrebuilding and reuniting after the Civil War. This unit will be taught after students have gained a solidunderstanding of the causes and major developments of the Civil War. Students will understand theevents and tensions that fractured the country, and will also know the course of the war and how it cameto an end. The Reconstruction unit will begin with the end of the war and its immediate aftermath,including President Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction and his assassination. Students will then examinePresident Johnson’s plan and how his policies were implemented in the South. Students will also considerthe changes in the South brought about by the 13th Amendment and the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau.Another major topic will be the policies enacted by the Radical Republicans during CongressionalReconstruction. Students will also learn about the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, andexamine their impact on freedom and equality for African Americans. After these social and politicalchanges have been considered, the unit will move onto how Reconstruction came to a close in 1877, andmuch of the period’s progress was reversed in the following years. To culminate the unit, students willevaluate the successes and failures of the Reconstruction period by considering its enduring legacy.

This unit is designed for heterogeneously-mixed, multicultural classes. I have a variety of abilitiesin my classes, including special education students, ESL students, and Talented & Gifted students.

Historical Background:Reconstruction is one of the most critical and complex periods in United States history. In 1865,

four years of brutal destruction in the Civil War came to an end. 600,000 American soldiers lost theirlives, far more than in any other war in American history. Four million enslaved African Americans wereemancipated. The South was laid to waste; railroads, factories, farms, and cities were destroyed. Soldiers’graves and smoldering ruins were the tangible signs of the rift that went far deeper. Anger, bitterness,grief, and fear overwhelmed the nation. The United States faced innumerable challenges: how would thenation rebuild? How would the Confederate states be reunited with the Union? What did freedom forslaves really mean? How would the emancipated become part of society? How would the nation heal thewounds made by four years of bitter war?

As the nation cautiously started to celebrate the end of the war in April of 1865, a shockingtragedy quickly cast Americans into further despair. President Abraham Lincoln, who had fought sopassionately to maintain the Union, was shot and killed. Lincoln had given hope to millions with hissecond inaugural address, in which he stated: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, withfirmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bindup the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan,to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”Lincoln envisioned a forgiving nation that would quickly bind its wounds and move forward. His death,however, increased Northern resentment and vengeance toward the South. It added a layer of grief to analready struggling nation. It also left the country in the hands of a leader who was not well prepared togovern.

Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency after Lincoln was assassinated. Johnsonwas a southerner and, like Lincoln, a self-educated man who climbed up the ladder from humble origins.He was also a Democrat who had been placed on the Lincoln ticket in 1864 to project a Union partyimage and keep the votes of the border states. Lincoln’s Republican cabinet distrusted Johnson, and hewas excluded from most conversations and decisions. He took over the presidency after only a few

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months as vice president and very little time spent with Lincoln. He was ill-prepared to handle theproblems facing the nation at the time, and in conflict with Congress and the Radical Republicans inCongress during this period. Johnson’s Reconstruction plan was lenient toward the former Confederatestates. Amnesty and pardon were available to former Confederates who pledged loyalty to the Union andsupport for emancipation. Major Confederate leaders and extremely wealthy planters, however, had toapply individually for Presidential pardons. Johnson was determined to overthrow the slaveocracy thatruled the South. He was not, however, interested in increasing equality and providing suffrage rights toAfrican Americans. He stated that this decision should be left to the states, but he was aware that no state,northern or southern, had been willing to expand the political rights of African Americans.

The Presidential Reconstruction period proved troublesome. After Confederate states had beenadmitted back into the Union, and Confederates pardoned, members of the pre-war political ruling classwere soon re-elected as state legislators, governors, Congressmen, and Senators. These leaders had nointention of extending political equality and the right to vote to the freedmen. Black Codes were soonpassed by all southern state legislatures. These laws restricted the freedoms of African Americans andlimited the economic options of the freedmen. By enforcing labor contracts and anti-vagrancy laws, thestrict Black Codes kept many freedmen tied to the plantation. Additionally, this period was characterizedby violence and vengeance against African Americans. The justice system of the South provided norecourse; the all-white police force frequently terrorized African Americans, and judges and otherofficials seldom prosecuted crimes against Blacks. News of Black Codes and violence against freedmenspread to the North, creating indignation. Even citizens who were not committed to full political rights forAfrican Americans recognized that the basic freedoms and economic opportunities must be provided, orthe idea of emancipation would be a farce.

Leading the complaints against Presidential Reconstruction were the Radical Republicans ofCongress. Radical leaders viewed Reconstruction as an opportunity for sweeping changes and a buildingof a new, restructured South. The old social and political order would be overturned, and the nationalgovernment would ensure equal rights for all. By 1867, Republicans had a majority in both houses ofCongress and could overrule a presidential veto. In 1867, Congress passed a new Reconstruction Act. Itthrew out the state governments of states that had refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. It also divided upthe South into five military districts, with military governors who were given power to enforceReconstruction. In order to rejoin the Union, states had to write new state constitutions, ratify the 14th

Amendment, and allow African Americans to vote. Under these new constitutions, many formerConfederates were not allowed to vote. With military protection, freedmen were. Under these conditions,Republicans were able to gain control of southern state governments. The 15th Amendment was ratified in1870, providing a constitutional guarantee of voting rights for African American males.

With new political forces in the South, including white southern Republicans, northerners whomoved to the South, and African Americans, many changes were made. During Reconstruction, AfricanAmericans made significant political gains. They voted in large numbers and were also elected to politicaloffice. African Americans were elected as sheriffs, mayors, legislators, Congressmen, and Senators.Though their participation was significant, it was exaggerated by white southerners angry at the “BlackRepublican” governments. Reconstruction governments built public schools for both black and whitechildren. They also rebuilt and added more railroads, telegraph lines, bridges, and railroads. These costlyefforts led to tax increases that further angered southern whites. Anger and resentment of whitesoutherners led to the rise of secret societies like the Ku Klux Klan, who used threats and violence tointimidate African Americans and prevent them from voting.

By the mid-1870’s, enthusiasm for Reconstruction waned. Republicans were losing power, andNortherners were tired of trying to reform the South. In 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act, whichreinstated voting rights to nearly all white southerners. At the same time, the efforts of the KKK and otherviolent organizations resulted in fewer African Americans at the polls. By 1876, almost all southern stateswere back under the control of Democrats. The end of Reconstruction came with the election of 1876.Neither Democrat Samuel Tilden nor Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was able to win a clear victory inthe electoral college, so a Congressional commission was set up to decide the election. In a compromise,Republican candidate Hayes was declared the winner, in exchange for a promise to end Reconstruction.

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Upon taking office in 1877, Hayes removed the remaining federal troops from the South. With no one leftto enforce the Reconstruction reforms, Reconstruction was over.

White conservative Democrats remained in control of southern governments, and systematicallyreversed the steps taken toward political and social equality during Reconstruction. Southern states deniedAfrican Americans’ voting rights through voting restrictions such as the poll tax, grandfather clause, andliteracy test. Jim Crow laws separated blacks and whites in restaurants, schools, theaters, railroads,hospitals, and all other public spaces. This segregation was endorsed by the Supreme Court in thelandmark Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896. African Americans continued to be victims of violence,intimidation, and lynching. It would not be until the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s that the fullprotection of the 14th and 15th amendments would be granted to African Americans.

The period of Reconstruction was one of great promise for the United States and for AfricanAmericans. During this period, African Americans continued their struggle for freedom and worked toimprove their communities. Institutions of the African American community, such as churches andschools, were strengthened. Though there were long-term consequences of Reconstruction’s failures, theReconstruction era provided a Constitutional basis for later attempts to end discrimination.

Major Understanding

Reconstruction was one of the most critical time periods in American history. The Civil War changed thenation greatly; most importantly by bringing an end to slavery. Reconstruction was a period of greatpromise, hope, and progress for African Americans, and a period of resentment and resistance for manywhite southerners. The end of Reconstruction ushered in the Jim Crow era and a hundred-year period ofsegregation and disenfranchisement, setting the stage for the Civil Rights movement.

Objectives: Students will:1. Demonstrate ability to write from a historical perspective by comparing and contrasting thedifferent plans for Reconstruction, including the plans of Lincoln, Johnson, and Congress2. Persuasively argue a position on an issue, both orally and in writing3. Identify the provisions of the Reconstruction Amendments and consider their effects4. Describe the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the impact it had on African-Americans in theSouth by interpreting and analyzing primary source documents5. Analyze the social and political changes brought about by the emancipation of slaves andReconstruction policies6. Examine the events that led to the end of Reconstruction and the subsequent removal of AfricanAmerican rights by sequencing events in history and analyzing cause and effect

Standards of Learning:SkillsUS I.1: The student will develop skills for geographical and historical analysis, including the ability to:

a) identify and interpret primary and secondary source documentsb) make connections between past and presentc) sequence events in United States historyd) interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectivese) evaluate and discuss issues orally and in writing

ContentU.S. I.10: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the effects of Reconstruction on American life by:

a) identifying the provisions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the UnitedStates of American and their impact on the expansion of freedom in America

b) describing the impact of Reconstruction policies on the South

Culminating Assessment: Students will complete a culminating project in which they create a museum

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exhibit that shows the successes and failures of Reconstruction. Students will use primary sources as wellas artifacts they create for their exhibit. They will explain each artifact and what it demonstrates aboutReconstruction. Their museum exhibit will include a statement in which students must take a position andexplain why Reconstruction was a success or a failure (see project directions).

Resources:BooksFoner, Eric. A Short History of Reconstruction. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. An examination ofmany themes of Reconstruction, including African Americans as agents of change during Reconstruction,the ways that the South was changed during the period, and the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns.

Berlin, Ira, Barbara J. Fields, Steven F. Miller, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, eds., Free atLast: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War. New York: New Press. This bookincludes numerous primary sources that look at slavery around the time of emancipation.

Winik, Jay. April 1865: The Month That Saved America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001.Winik’s account includes a thorough examination of the circumstances around Lincoln’s assassination,and interesting biographical information about Andrew Johnson.

Carter, Dan T. When the War Was Over: The Failure of Self-Reconstruction in the South, 1865-1867.Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985. A general account of Presidential Reconstructionand the social changes in the South immediately after the war’s end.

Hakim, Joy. A History of US: Reconstructing America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Anexcellent supplementary reading resource for students.

Websiteshttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html. A Library of Congress on-line exhibitentitled “The African-American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship”, that includes many primarysources (especially images) about African-Americans during Reconstruction.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/index.html. A PBS American Experience website thatincludes video clips, primary sources, links to other resources, historians’ perspectives aboutReconstruction, and a Reconstruction timeline.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/index.html. “America’s Reconstruction: People andPolitics after the Civil War.” This digital history exhibit, with text written by Eric Foner, has extensiveprimary and secondary sources on thematic elements of Reconstruction.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/hyper_titles.cfm. This University of Houston Digital Historyonline textbook includes excellent secondary sources that provide a clear understanding of theReconstruction period.

www.nara.gov The website for the National Archives includes document analysis worksheets as well asnumerous primary sources.

http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu. Valley of the Shadow: an excellent compilation of primary resources fortwo communities during the Civil War. Includes Freedmen’s Bureau records, letters, diaries, newspapers,images, and maps.

http://www.freedmensbureau.com/. A collection of documents and links to documents relating to thework of the Freedmen’s Bureau, including labor contracts and marriage certificates.

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http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/ A Library of Congress on-line exhibit entitled, “With an Even Hand:Brown v. Board at 50”. The section entitled “A Century of Racial Segregation” is helpful forunderstanding the aftermath of Reconstruction.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6377. A text version of a first-person account of sharecropping after theCivil War.

http://blackhistory.harpweek.com/. Materials from Harper’s Weekly magazine that illustrate attitudestoward African-Americans during the late 19th century.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/rec/rhome.html. A lesson plan that is part of the Libraryof Congress’s Learning Page. The lesson plan is geared toward high-school students, but could be adaptedfor middle school students to use some of the resources.

Strategies:

Lesson 1 (1 day)

Title: Problems Facing the South After the Civil War

Objectives: Students will:

1. Examine the events that took place as the Civil War came to a close.2. Identify problems facing the nations at this time and evaluate different plans for dealing with thesechallenges.

Materials for Lesson 1• Images of the aftermath of the Civil War. These images are from the American Memory section of

the Library of Congress website. Bibliographic information is included in the links if nototherwise noted.

• President Lincoln's funeral procession http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i?ammem/cwar:@field(NUMBER+@band(cwp+4a39661)):displayType=1:m856sd=cwp:m856sf=4a39661

• Richmond Ruins:http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section2/section2_21b.html

• Locomotive Ruins: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i?ammem/cwar:@field(NUMBER+@band(cwp+4a40910)):displayType=1:m856sd=cwp:m856sf=4a40910

• Charleston Ruins: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i?ammem/cwar:@field(NUMBER+@band(cwp+4a39791)):displayType=1:m856sd=cwp:m856sf=4a39791

• Emancipation: Thomas Nast. Emancipation. Philadelphia: S. Bott, 1865. Wood engraving.http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/05/0509001r.jpg

• Emancipation Celebration: F. Deilman. Celebration of the abolition of slavery in the Districtof Columbia, by the colored people in Washington, April 19, 1866. Wood engraving. FromHarper's Weekly, May 12, 1866. Copyprint.http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/04/0411001v.jpg

• Burning a Freedmen’s Schoolhouse:http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section2/section2_33b.html

Strategies

1. Hook: Have students respond to the following writing prompt, in order to get students thinking

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about Americans’ feelings at the end of the Civil War. “Imagine that you have two sons. Your olderson has been bullying and fighting your younger son. The older son says he is upset because theyounger son gets more attention. You punish your son, and he responds by running away fromhome. Before he leaves, he steals $500 from you. What would you do when your son returns?Would you punish him harshly so he won’t do it again, or be lenient with him if he promises not todo it again? Explain your choice.”2. After students have written their responses, give them an opportunity to share and have a classdiscussion. Explain to students the connection to how American leaders had to decide if the Southshould be punished for the Civil War.3. Show students images of life in the U.S. in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. As theylook at the images, have them brainstorm a list of problems that the U.S. faced. Images include: thedestruction of the South, the newly emancipated slaves, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, andviolence toward the freedmen. Encourage students to think about what problems might be causedby these events.4. After students have brainstormed, have them share their lists. Make one large list on posterpaper. This can be referred back to throughout the unit to remind students of the many challengesfacing the nation.5. Introduce Lincoln’s plan of peaceful and forgiving reunification for the nation. Johnson’scontinuation of this plan can also be introduced here. A short textbook reading might be useful toset the scene.6. Then have students work together in pairs to make a pro/con list for the PresidentialReconstruction plan. Have them think about how the following groups would respond to this plan:former Confederates, other Southerners, Northerners, and freedmen.7. Have students share their responses and lead a class discussion about the merits and weaknessesof this approach to Reconstruction.8. Wrap Up: Have the students look again at the images of life at the end of the Civil War. Havethem answer these questions:

• Pick an image that shows a problem that you think would be improved by thePresident’s plan. Explain why the plan will help.

• Pick an image that shows a problem that will be made worse by the President’splan. Explain why.

Differentiation

In this lesson the teacher uses different presentation modes and activities such as a brief writing exercise,whole class discussion, and visual images to accommodate a variety of learning styles.

Lesson 2 (2 days)

Title: Early Reconstruction

Objectives: Students will:

1. Examine early developments of Reconstruction including the 13th Amendment and the Freedmen’sBureau2. Describe conditions in the South and the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau by using primary sources,such as letters and Bureau records3. Consider the successes of the Freedmen’s Bureau, such as the building of schools and churches, aswell as the ongoing struggles with labor relations, violence, and Black Codes.

Materials for Lesson 2• Document Analysis Worksheet from National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/document.html

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• Letter from Jourdan Anderson to his former master asking for wages:http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6369

• Marshall Twitchell’s account of working for the Freedmen’s Bureau:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/carpetbagger/ps_twitchell.html

• Letter to the Bureau asking for workers: http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS403/freedmen/fb-contracts.html

• Labor Contract for former slaves:http://www.freedmensbureau.com/georgia/contracts/georgiacontract.htm

• Letters and Newspaper notices about building churches:http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS403/freedmen/fb-socialservices.htmlhttp://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS403/freedmen/fb-socialservices.html

• Letters about schools and other services for freedmen:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/schools/ps_highgate.html Personal Narrativeof a freedwoman: Library of Congress WPA Narrative. The document and a transcription areavailable.

• Black Codes: Mississippi Black Code of 1865; will need to be excerpted for students.http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section4/section4_blackcodes.html

• PBS video or mini-documentary clip from PBS website on Marshall Twitchellhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/carpetbagger/index.html

Strategies

1. Hook: Have students respond to this question, either in writing or in a discussion format. “Imaginethat you are a slave who has just been set free. Describe how you are feeling, what you will do next,where you will go, and any challenges you think you might face.”2. Introduction: Describe the 13th Amendment to students, or have them read about it in their textbooks.Also discuss the Freedmen’s Bureau and why it was created. Have students add these terms to theirReconstruction Vocabulary list. Discuss with the class the challenges that the 4 million emancipatedslaves would face.3. Video Clip Introduction: Have students watch a mini-documentaryhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/carpetbagger/index.html on Marshall Twitchell, arepresentative of the Freedmen’s Bureau working in Louisiana.4. Create charts to use for a Carousel Brainstorm. As a class, generate titles to put at the top of each chart.Each chart will focus on an issue facing the emancipated slaves and the Freedmen’s Bureau. Examples:Labor, Churches, Schools, Violence, etc. As students are working on the primary sources analysis, hangcharts up around the classroom.5. Primary Sources: Working in pairs or small groups, have students evaluate primary sources relating tothe Freedmen’s Bureau. Each group will have a different source to analyze. Students will use theDocument Analysis Worksheet. When they have finished, they will share their resource with the class.Variation: If time allows, or if some groups can handle it, have them analyze more than one primarysource.6. Carousel Brainstorm: Each group will rotate through the posters. On each poster, they will list a pieceof evidence or example that shows something they’ve learned about the topic through their primarysources. Then they will move on to the next poster and add information that they have learned thatsupports that main idea.7. Wrap Up: Have students write a response from the Freedmen’s Bureau to one of the people they’vestudied in their primary sources. In the letter, students demonstrate knowledge of the problems facingsoutherners after the Civil War and the ways in which the Freedmen’s Bureau tried to assist people afterthe war.

Differentiation

This lesson contains a wide variety of resources that can be assigned to groups and individuals based on

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ability and interest. Student interest in a particular topic can conduct additional research and locate moreprimary sources. Students with lower reading levels can focus on images rather than text-heavyresources. Stronger readers could be given more challenging resources, such as the text of the BlackCodes and the Amendments. The needs of kinesthetic learners are addressed through the CarouselBrainstorm.

Lesson 3 (1 day)

Title: Radical Reconstruction

Objectives: Students will

1. Examine the period of Reconstruction that was led by the Radical Republicans by identifying itsleaders and learning the laws they were passed2. Understand how the provisions of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution increasedfreedom and equality for African Americans.

Materials for Lesson 3• Image from Harper’s Weekly

http://blackhistory.harpweek.com/7Illustrations/Reconstruction/TheFirstVote.htmto use for hook activity and questions to answer• Graphic organizer notes• Word-splash

Strategies

1. Hook: Have students look at this image from Harper’s Weekly called “The First Vote.http://blackhistory.harpweek.com/7Illustrations/Reconstruction/TheFirstVote.htm Then havestudents answer questions about the image. Possible questions:

• What are the men in the picture doing?• What changes must have taken place in the South to make this possible?• Why was it important for African Americans to participate in elections?

2. Students will work in pairs to complete graphic organizer notes comparing the PresidentialReconstruction plan with Radical Republican Reconstruction. A textbook or other secondarysource can be used to find the information to complete the organizer.

3. “The Road to Equality”: Students will create an illustrated timeline or road map of the events inReconstruction. Students can use textbooks, notes, or the following online timelines to helpthem complete their timeline:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/states/sf_timeline.htmlhttp://blackhistory.harpweek.com/4Reconstruction/ReconTimeline.htmhttp://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/recon/chron.html

4. Wrap Up: Give students a copy of the Reconstruction word-splash, or project it on anoverhead. Have them write four to five sentences using words from the word-splash.

Differentiation

In this lesson, students use illustrations and words to how their understanding of Reconstruction concepts.Using the word-splash gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge at their own abilitylevel. Students will process information by completing a graphic organizer and creating an illustratedtimeline or road map.

Lesson 4 (2 days)

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Title: Political, Social and Economic Changes

Objectives: Students will:

1. Explore how life changed for southerners, especially for African Americans duringReconstruction2. Examine the political, social and economic changes that came about, especially reforms thatwere enacted by state legislatures during this period3. Identify the effects of the 14th and 15th Amendments4. Describe the reaction of white southerners to these changes.

Materials• Labels for Corners during hook activity• Copies of primary sources (listed below) for each group in the jigsaw• Copies of questions (listed below) for each group to answer• PBS video or mini-documentary clip from PBS website on John Roy Lynch

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/activism/index.html

Strategies:

1. Hook: “Corners”. In this activity, students have to make a choice, give a reason to support theirchoice, and listen to other points of view. Label the four corners of the room with the followingtitles:

• “African Americans were no longer slaves”,• “African Americans gained the right to vote”,• “African Americans attended schools”, and “African Americans were elected

to government offices.”2. Have students write down which of these reforms was the most important, and why. Then have

them go to that corner. In the corners, students share with each other their reasons for makingtheir choices. A spokesperson from each corner shares that group’s reasons with the class.After listening to each groups’ reasons, students may switch corners if they have changed theirminds.

3. Jigsaw: Each group investigates one aspect of change in the South after the Civil War. Then,new groups are formed with one person from each group. The “experts” on each topic sharewhat they’ve discovered in the new group. Finally, the original groups get back together andshare what they’ve learned from the other groups. For further instruction on the jigsaw strategy,visit this website: http://www.litandlearn.lpb.org/strategies/strat_jigsaw.pdf

• Group 1: Reforms enacted by Republican Governments. As students readthis account, have them make a list of new laws or responsibilities for thegovernment.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/activism/ps_lynch.html

• Group 2: Sharecropping. Have students go through the photo gallery. Theyshould define “sharecropping” and look for other examples of work done byfree African Americans.http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section3/section3_01.htmlFor a first-person account of sharecropping, use excerpts from thisdocument: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6377

• Group 3: Community, Family, and Church. Select a few images from thephoto gallery. Have students study the images and read the information.Students should identify how these institutions became stronger after the endof slavery.http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section2/section2_01.html

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• Group 4: White Southern Responses. Have students read this account of anAfrican American legislator’s experience of threats and violence. Havestudents consider the source of and reason for the violence, as well asAfrican American responses to it.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/kkk/ps_colby.htmlExcerpts from this Louisiana account could also be used:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/kkk/ps_colby.html

4. Video: Mini-documentary of John Roy Lynch, a former slave from Mississippi who waselected to the House of Representatives.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/activism/index.html

5. Processing questions for during or after the video clip:• Why did Lynch think it was important to pass a new Civil Rights bill?• As a Congressman, what issues facing African Americans in the South did

Lynch try to solve?• What did Lynch think were the positive aspects of Reconstruction?• If you could meet John Roy Lynch, what questions would you ask him?

6. Wrap Up: 3-2-1. Write down 3 ways that life improved for African Americans duringReconstruction, 2 problems that African Americans still faced, and 1 reason that white southernerswere upset.

Differentiation

In this lesson, students work cooperatively in expert groups and then in jigsaw groups. While in expertgroups, students will work together to make sure that all students are comfortable with the informationbefore they teach it to another group. Differentiated roles could be assigned within theses groups: reader,recorder, fact-checker, etc.

Lesson 5 (1 day)

Title: The End of Reconstruction

Objectives:1. Understand the reasons that Reconstruction ended2. Explain the Amnesty Act and the Compromise of 18773. Understand how the progress made during Reconstruction was reversed by Jim Crow laws, votingrestrictions, and Plessy v. Ferguson.4. Understand how Reconstruction ended by examining an exhibit about events that broughtReconstruction to an end

Materials• Walking Tour exhibits: Print out materials related to walking tour topics and attach to poster

paper. Sample sets of materials included: Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson• Questions to answer during Walking Tour (see below)• Images for wrap-up activity:Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/09/0909001r.jpgMarch on Washington http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/09/0913001r.jpgSchool Desegregation, Little Rock http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/images/br0130bs.jpg

Strategies:

1. Walking Tour: Students will visit exhibits around the classroom. Each exhibit will giveinformation about an event that brought Reconstruction to an end or a new law passed afterReconstruction ended. Sites on the walking tour will include: the Amnesty Act, the Compromise of

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1877, Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson, and voting restrictions. Each chart will have pictures andwritten information about the event. As students visit each section of the walking tour, they willanswer these questions:

• What was the event/item?• How did it change life for African Americans?• How did it contribute to the end of Reconstruction?

2. Wrap Up: Display several images from the Civil Rights movement, such as the March onWashington, the bus boycott, school desegregation, and sit-ins. Ask students to consider whythe Civil Rights movement was necessary, even though the 14th and 15th Amendmentsguaranteeing equality and the right to vote had been passed 100 years before.

Differentiation

In this lesson, students complete a Walking Tour in which they gather information by looking at displays.The questions for this are differentiated, starting with simple fact-gathering questions, and moving up thetaxonomy to interpreting information and making connections with other ideas.

Lesson 6 (2 days)

Title: Successes and Failures of Reconstruction

Objectives: Students will:

1. Evaluate the successes and failures of Reconstruction2. Create a museum exhibit compiling items they have used during the unit3. Explain the significance of these items and analyze if Reconstruction was a success or failure for theUnited States and for African Americans (see Appendix for project directions and rubric).

Materials:• Exhibit project directions• Rubric for project

Strategies:

In the final lesson, students will evaluate the successes and failures of Reconstruction. They will compileitems they have used during the unit, along with new items they created to make a museum exhibit aboutReconstruction. In the culminating project, they will explain the significance of these items and analyze ifReconstruction was a success or failure for the United States and for African Americans. (See Appendixfor project directions and rubric)

Differentiation:

In the Culminating Project, students have some options in the exhibits they will create, so they can choosebased on what content interests them and what products they create. The project could be pared down forstruggling learners or slower workers. Students can use their talents to add personal touches to theirexhibits: artistic displays, written information, graphs, charts, or maps. Students can use their strengthsand interests to create differentiated projects that provide a variety of ways for them to demonstrate theirknowledge and understanding of the content.

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APPENDIX

Lesson 3

Graphic Organizer NotesWord Splash

Lesson 5

Tour - Jim Crow (Images)Tour - Plessy (Images)

Lesson 6

Exhibit ProjectRubric for Exhibit

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Lesson 3

Graphic Organizer

RECONSTRUCTION PLANS

Presidential Reconstruction Congressional ReconstructionAccording to this plan, what did formerConfederate states have to do to bereadmitted to the Union?

What happened to former Confederate leadersunder this plan?

Under this plan, how would the governmenthelp freedmen? What political rights wouldfreedmen have?

How did Southerners react to this plan?

How did Northerners react to the plan?

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Word Splash

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Lesson 5

Jim Crow Laws

Introduction

In the wake of Reconstruction, southern state governments enacted Jim Crow laws,which segregated virtually all public spaces. Here are some examples of segregationpolicies in the South:

In Alabama, hospitals were segregated, as were homes for the mentallyhandicapped, the elderly, the blind and the deaf. In Florida, a law orderedthat textbooks used for black and white children be kept separate, even whenthey were in storage. In Louisiana, a law regulating circuses and sideshowsrequired separate entrances, exits, and ticket windows, and required thatthey be at least 25 feet apart.

In South Carolina, a code required that black and white workers in textilefactories labor in different rooms, using different water fountains and toiletsas well as different stairways and pay windows.

In Atlanta, an ordinance banned amateur baseball games within two blocks ofeach other if the players were of different races. In New Orleans, ferries andpublic libraries were segregated. For a time, public education for AfricanAmerican children was eliminated past the fifth grade. On streetcars, therewas a movable screen that black riders had to sit behind.

Source: Digital History Online Textbook:http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=217

Personal Account of Jim Crow laws:

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In a speech delivered in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1886 and later published asThe Black Laws, legislator Benjamin W. Arnett described life in segregated Ohio:

I have traveled in this free country for twenty hours without anything to eat; not because I hadno money to pay for it, but because I was colored. Other passengers of a lighter hue hadbreakfast, dinner and supper. In traveling we are thrown in "jim crow" cars, denied the privilegeof buying a berth in the sleeping coach.

This foe of my race stands at the school house door and separates the children, by reason of'color,' and denies to those who have a visible admixture of African blood in them the blessingsof a graded school and equal privileges... We call upon all friends of 'Equal Rights' to assist inthis struggle to secure the blessings of untrammeled liberty for ourselves and posterity.

B.W. Arnett, The Black Laws, March 10, 1886.African American Perspectives, 1818-1907.

Images:

Drinking at "Colored" Water Cooler in Streetcar Terminal, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,Russell Lee, photographer, July 1939.

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Negro Going in Colored Entrance of Movie House, Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi,Marion Post Wolcott, photographer, circa October 1939.

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A Sign at the Greyhound Bus Station, Rome, GeorgiaEsther Bubley, photographer, September 1943.

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Cleveland Gazette: “Boycotting Jim Crow”Volume: 16Issue Number: 08Page Number: 02Date: 09/24/1898

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Plessy v. FergusonThis information is excerpted from the online textbook at www.digitalhistory.uh.edu

Plessy v. FergusonIn 1890, Louisiana passed a law prohibiting people of different races from traveling together on trains. This law was one of many forms of segregation, formaland informal, that came to be known as Jim Crow (named after a minstrel song). A group of African American educators, lawyers, journalists, and civic leadersin New Orleans decided to test the law in court.

Homer Plessy, a shoemaker whose great-grandmother was black, challenged the law by sitting in a car reserved for white passengers. Despite the fact that he was seven-eighths white, he wasarrested and convicted. Plessy's attorney argued that the state law violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws.

The Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana's favor in 1896. Segregation statutes were constitutional, the court said, as long as equal provisions were made for both races. The court's majoritydistinguished between legal or political equality and social equality. According to the majority opinion, the 14th Amendment only protected legal and political equality.

In the Plessy decision, the court gave its sanction to the "separate but equal doctrine" and gave states permission to legally separate blacks and whites at everything from drinking fountains toschools. Plessy v. Ferguson remained in effect until it was reversed in 1954 by the court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision to integrate public schools.

The implications of the Plessy decision for education became apparent three years later. In 1897, the Richmond County, Ga. school board closed the only African American high school inGeorgia, even though state law required that school boards "provide of the same facilities for each" race, including schoolhouses "and all other matters appertaining to education." At that time,the school board provided two high schools for white children. It provided sufficient funds to educate all white children in the county, but only half of school-aged African American children.

Copyright 2004 Digital History

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Broken school bus inLouisa County, Virginia (20.3)[Digital ID # ppmsca-05512

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School building inLouisa County, Virginia (20.4)[Digital ID# ppmsca-#05513

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School building inCamden, Massachusetts (20.1)[Digital ID # ppmsca-05511

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Lesson 6

Culminating Project: Reconstruction

Overview of Project

For this project, you will be creating displays for a museum exhibit entitled,“Reconstruction: Success or Failure?” Your exhibit will show the changes that occurredin America during Reconstruction. Your exhibit will include artifacts, visuals, and mapsthat show how the United States changed after the Civil War.

Requirements for Project

You will have a total of 8 items included in your museum exhibit. You will create eachitem to help show the impact of Reconstruction. There are 6 required items listed below.Then you may choose the remaining 2 items you would like to include.

Each item must have a 3-5 sentence caption underneath that explains why the item wasincluded in the exhibit.

Every project must include: An artifact related to the Freedmen’s Bureau. You could create an advertisement for

the services of the Bureau, a letter to the Bureau asking for help, or a story abouthow the Bureau has helped an emancipated slave.

A map that shows the Military Reconstruction Act and how it divided up the South. Inyour caption, explain what the law was, why it was enacted, and how Southernersreacted to the law.

One of these illustrations relating to the political role of African Americans duringReconstruction: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/05/0507001r.jpg

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/05/0506001r.jpgIdentify the significance of the person or persons in the picture. Explain how the 15th

Amendment helped make the person’s achievements possible. (A file with copies ofthese images and bibliographic information is attached.)

A diary entry that explains how life has changed since the end of the Civil War. Yourdiary entry should be written from one of the following perspectives: an emancipatedslave, a former plantation owner or Confederate leader, or a Northerner who hasmoved to the South during Reconstruction.

A newspaper article that announces the Compromise of 1877 and explains how itbrought Reconstruction to an end.

An artifact that shows how progress toward Civil Rights was reversed afterReconstruction ended. Pick a primary source and explain how it shows one of thechanges that took place after Reconstruction.

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Then, you may choose the last item you would like to include. (You may include more ifyou like.) Possible items you may include:- An obituary (death notice) for Abraham Lincoln- A timeline that shows the key events of Reconstruction- additional artifacts, such as letters, newspapers, political cartoons, or diary entries- pictures, visuals, tables, maps, or charts

Your project also must include: a creative title for your museum exhibit a 1-2 paragraph statement that explains your answer to the question “Was

Reconstruction a success or failure?”

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Project Rubric

Reconstruction Museum Exhibit

Teacher Name: __________________

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1Content - Accuracy All 8 artifacts in the

exhibit containaccurate factualinformation relatedto the content.

6-7 artifacts in theexhibit containaccurate factualinformation relatedto the content.

4-5 artifacts in theexhibit containaccurate factualinformation relatedto the content.

3 or less artifacts inthe exhibit containaccurate factualinformation relatedto the content.

Required Elements The exhibit includesall requiredelements as well asadditionalinformation.

All requiredelements areincluded on theexhibit

All but 1 of therequired elementsare included on theexhibit.

Several requiredelements weremissing.

Grpahics All graphics arerelated to the topicand make it easierto understand. Allborrowed graphicshave a sourcecitation. Each isexplained with a 2-3sentence caption.

All graphics arerelated to the topicand most make iteasier tounderstand. Allborrowed graphicshave a sourcecitation.

All graphics relateto the topic. Mostborrowed graphicshave a sourcecitation.

Graphics do notrelate to the topicOR severalborrowed graphicsdo not have asource citation.

Exhibit statement The exhibit includesa 1-2 paragraphstatement thatprovides evidenceanswering thequestion, "WasReconstruction asuccess or failure?"

Includes astatementproviding partialevidence forconclusion.

Includes astatement that isincomplete or hasweak evidence.

Statement is not inthe form of aparagraph andgives little or noevidence forconclusion.

Organization andMechanices

Capitalization,spelling, andpunctuation arecorrect throughoutthe exhibit. Theexhibit is well-organized andartifacts are clearlypresented.

There is 1 error incapitalization,spelling, orpunctuation.

There are 2 errorsin capitalization orpunctuation.

There are morethan 2 errors incapitalization orpunctuation. Theexhibit is confusingor unorganized.

Date Created: Mar 22, 2005 04:50 pm(CST)

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